In electrically driven motor vehicles, particularly electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles, secondary batteries are used for supplying electrical propulsion devices of the motor vehicles with electrical energy using these. First of all, corresponding secondary batteries generally have battery modules electrically interconnected to form a battery chain which, in turn, can have a number of electrically interconnected battery cells. The battery cells of a secondary battery can be designed, for example, as lithium ion battery cells.
To generate electrical energy of the required order of magnitude, the battery modules or battery cells, respectively, can be connected dynamically to a high-power line of the secondary battery or separated from the high-power line via power switching transistors. A battery module separated from the high-power line or a battery cell separated from the high-power line is usually bypassed by means of a power bypass transistor. These power electronics can form a part of a battery cell which usually has its own electronic unit and a galvanic element.